Naofumi Iwatani, an uncharismatic Otaku who spends his days on games and manga, suddenly finds himself summoned to a parallel universe! He discovers he is one of four heroes equipped with legendary weapons and tasked with saving the world from its prophesied destruction. As the Shield Hero, the weakest of the heroes, all is not as it seems. Naofumi is soon alone, penniless, and betrayed. With no one to turn to, and nowhere to run, he is left with only his shield. Now, Naofumi must rise to become the legendary Shield Hero and save the world!

As always these stories are quite good and allow the reader to escape a bit. I enjoy the plot and the characters.

The issue is that in this story the author doesn't really give the main character any choice in any matter. It ends up that he just gets pulled along, and thus it doesn't feel like he's actually doing anything himself. Might as well just have jumped to the end of the story and said "the hero did as everyone else forced him to and ended up saving stuff, the end"

At present, I have 9 of the light novels (all that are out in English) and read the manga up to date of this posting.

I enjoy fun reads like this. The whole 'summoned to another world' thing is carefree entertainment. This, however, distinguishes itself significantly in two ways.

First are the character depth. The main character is very entertaining. More annoyed most of the time than heroic. So far he has demonstrated a lot of growth (growth as in he isn't the same person at current point in story as he was in the beginning, and the reader is very aware of why the growth occurs). Additionally, and worth mention, is Filo. I won't say much other than main character and Filo interactions (including carriages) crack me up to no end.

Second is the volume and length. Too many stories aren't finished or have abrupt endings. Moreover they take on the aspect of bizarre turns (which clearly come off as writing dragging on a good thing). Not the case here. The story is complete for the main character (I believe now spin offs from other characters point of views are coming out) and there is a good chunk. Around 20 volumes. As of Volume 9, the plot is well formed with clear objectives and intrigue and I get the impression the pacing is great for a fully formed ending (no loose ends).

This was a Web Novel turned Light Novel turned Manga. At time of posting, 10 volumes are available on Amazon.com and I believe all of the Light Novel is translated and online for free.

No motivation my ass.The main charcter is put in a constant state of agency.From the very start he had to deal with being accused of stuff he didn't do.The world has a timer on the waves of challenges he has to face.Just cause he is the implied savior that doesn't mean everyone else has to bend over backwards .There are people who hate him but there are also people who are neutral towards him.The whole world is not so evil towards him.Half the time is spent travelling to different places.

Wish fulfillment.That word has been overused by hipsters.Just because you don't like what you see doesn't make it bad writing.Take your virtue signalling and shove it.The story does show his strength and limitations.He couldn't barely even hurt a beginner monster at the start lol.Every fight had some measure of teamwork and strategy.

And complaining about his short temper.Frankly he is unique.I'm tired of these messiah do gooder shonen protagonists who win solely cause the plot.

And that girl has true character development.You feel that she is a main character in her own right rather than just his harem member.The series has almost nonexistent fanservice.I don't want to spoil too much.

Maybe the villains appear over the top, but their motivations have enough foreshadowing and buildup to make sense.There are people in real life that can behave like that.

Nobody in this manga has any motivation for anything they do. Every key plot point or illusory bit of character development is quickly forgotten to make way for the next contrived bit of emotional torture porn. The protagonist knows nothing about anything, has no interests or personal history, and is bereft of any curiosity about the world he's in unless the plot needs him to suddenly think for a panel or two. Antagonists are all 2-D cutouts who torment him without mercy for no reason beyond plot-induced stupidity and sadism, despite their survival explicitly resting on his personal success.

None of the support cast seem remotely intelligent, and I'm reminded of the maxim that a character can't be smarter than it's writer. Since no one in the manga has a memory that extends beyond 2 chapters, the plot has a distinct feel of being made up on the fly. Character design is uninspired, and combat is pointless because no rules are ever defined. The manga is best summed up when the protagonist purchases his PG-rated slave. He explicitly requests a cheap, combat oriented male, then walks past a bunch of monstrous ones that the hack illustrator wouldn't have been able to draw during action scenes to purchase a generically cute little girl with raccoon ears because of course he does.

In a genre already bloated with derivative, cliched wish fulfillment, this half-assed shounen revenge fantasy does not rise about flotsam.

Honestly that's the only part of this manga that I don't like. The other heroes look down on him saying that being a tank is for beginners, but from my experience it's always the damage heroes everyone wants to be and thus attracts beginners. Being a tank is hard, and Naofumi embodies that more and more. And he's a healer to boot! Love this manga, just wish is wasn't so game-centered.

When I first saw this or even heard of it, I thought it just a normal "Going to a Game-Like world".

The first chapter was... okay but my god did it change the whole feeling in the next chapter. It was surprising plot-twist that change how you just felt about Naofumi (Protagonist) and how you wish something good will happen for Naofumi.

By time goes by you see Naofumi trying to stronger and better but always been stop by a someone who betrayed Naofumi.The emotional effort that Naofumi and his friends that they are achieving. Really hook you on the story and shuff

So I really like the idea behind the "guy in transported/reincarnated into a new world" subgenre of manga, but I've always felt like they're just kind of lacking when considered on an individual basis. So far I haven't really found one I'd consider perfect or amazing but this is probably what I'd consider the best of what I've read.

First the positives, I really like the art in this overall. It's nice and even though the action gets a little hard to follow at times I never find myself confused or frustrated during fight scenes. I like the main characters for the most part, and when side characters are actually given a chance to shine it feels rewarding. I also like the world they establish, it's generic fantasy but at least there's a couple,of touches to make it unique.

Now to some negatives, which really kept me from enjoying this to the fullest. First off, I really don't get behind the fact that the entire kingdom basically shits all over our main character because he has a shield. I mean the whole setup for him being villanized is so contrived it just feels disingenuous. This leads to our main character having this righteous anger for the large majority of the story, and man I just think the guy acts like such a dick sometimes. I get it, we're supposed to feel for him and really get behind his bursts of anger at these people who treat him like garbage. But every time I just kept thinking that a real hero would probably, you know, be the better man in a lot of those situations. I'm not saying that he has to act the way I demand or anything, it just made me not really sympathize with him as much even though he does act like a hero in plenty of other ways (like rescuing the common folk and at least trying to get the oer heroes to work as a team).

While we're on the subject, I just want to say how much I just generally dislike the king and princess. I know that's the point and all, but their hatred of the shield hero just seems so forced. I just wish they had been made a bit more well rounded. I'm cool with the king being a jerk but c'mon set up an actual good REASON to hate the hero, not this "well our religion says to hate shield heroes for some reason so..." stuff

The other problem I have is with the other heroes. Once again I know what they're trying to do, make them all less powerful or intelligent than the main character so he can shine more. The problem is that they're made so incompetent it kind of strains credibility. So many times the other heroes are borderline useless or at times a straight up hindrance, all so once again the shield hero can seem far more capable in the story. It's not that I wanted the other heroes to be way more powerful than our main character or anything but if they had actual character arcs or maybe if one of them wasn't a total chode that would have been nice. That's the thing, all I wanted was for one of them to not be a total dick. Just have one of the heroes following along with the others but have him clearly not be ok with all of this dickey against the shield hero. But no, all of them have to look like total fools so that our main character is in the right.

Really, the problem with this story is the convenience of it all. The other heroes are conveniently all complete morons. Our main character conveniently gets upgrades when he needs to beat bosses. He conveniently gets the absolute best monster pet EVER from the monster egg lotto. There's more but I don't want to spoil things too much. Its just that at some point it really did start to grate on my nerves

Look you probably think I hate this manga. I don't. But it does have a lot of flaws. It comes across like some angry lonely person wrote this. His main character gets to rage at the world, be the best and coolest ever while still being disliked by the authorities because he's a bad boy who doesn't play by the rules, and of course have a harem of girls that follow him around and are also conveniently ok with being part of a harem. There's still a lot to like of course, or at least enough to keep me going. But man, when I say I like this series "warts and all" I really mean it when I say it has warts.

The entire point of this manga is to rile up the reader's righteous fury that is to be appeased when eventually, our hero who was continuously shat on for no good reason, rises up in the end against his enemies and, much to our great satisfaction, proves them all wrong.

That's not to say that I don't appreciate righteous gratification; an example of a manga doing this correctly would be Geuk-Jin Jeon's "The Breaker", which I have no complaints against. So what the heck's my problem with Tate no Yuusha?

To be specific: the circumstances that led to our hero being rejected is just plain unbelievable, and the consequences that builds on such a shaky premise only leads to more confusion. Maybe it's because I watch too much Captain America, but discriminating against a hero just because he uses a shield as a weapon is just SO BS. Not only that, but I question the writer's decision that the way in which our protagonist fell into anti hero-hood was the best, most convincing way to buy the readers into it. The writing just reeks of BS, superficiality, and half assedness.

That being said, I still enjoyed it, maybe more than I should have. Despite my criticism, I actually found myself marathoning through all 27 chapters, and found myself slightly disappointed that there wasn't more. If I had to recommend this manga to any of my peers, I would do so with the advice to keep an open mind.

This manga is one that I truly do appriciate. Some of the other commentors stated that it is like listening to an angsty teen who is all like "woa is me! I hate this world yada yada yada". Yet isnt that part of our human nature that we have become familiar with? The "what's in it for me" mind set?

You were whisked away from a world you called home. You dont know the people or its laws and government system. You are even given a sh*tty piece equipment. From the moment you walked into the throne room everyone looked at you in mistrust and outright resentment. You so called allies, the other heroes, humiliate and ridicule you in front of the rich and powerful...the very people who expect you to fight with them.

When the king gives everyone the chance to gain allies, no one chose you. You became the unwanted. Then someone offers you a hand in friendship. Finally you have a comrade to guard your back. That is until that very person, the only one you thought you could rely on, speaks out against you and causes slander and heresy. Now you have no one. You have enemies all around you and yet you are still expected to save them?

For me I like how Naofumi is all f them I'll do what i want mindset.

The art is decent the characters are okay. This story will be on my reading list for now.

****i really hope that King Ding dong and Princess Bit ch have karma give them whats coming to them

claudiofd, the fellow who wrote a review back in 2014 on this site already sums up pretty much everything I would say about this series. I was kind of surprised to see someone who literally summed up almost every thought I've had about this series.

The fantasy escapist / wish-fulfillment genre is incredibly pervasive and only continues to grow but not in a positive way considering the poor writing often contained within them. The genre tends to always garner incredibly high ratings and views, but this is only because of sympathetic readers rather than critical ones. This is yet another LN to manga entry into that specific genre, however, it features a stronger appeal to emotion than most by using characters that are seemingly thrown away by the world they (currently) inhabit in the extreme, which at a surface level is very emotionally appealing, especially if one has ever had that feeling (not necessarily uncommon for a young person). Even the whole relationship between the protagonist and the slave girl is superficially endearing by the idea of the "poor and discarded" main character helping a "cute and damaged" girl with no options despite him having next to nothing. Together they have little but grow together and almost become something of a family. She comes to see he has a heart of gold that others can't see despite her being his slave by technicality. That whole idea seems touching if one doesn't think about the more ridiculous aspects of it, and it certainly is ridiculous in truth.

I understand all too well why this series is so overrated. I initially fell right into the emotional trap of the story when I first read the manga. I didn't put much thought into the reading and it seemed like a wonderful endearing story if a bit strange in the way it was presented. The problem came about when I started thinking about things on just a basic level and then I read some of the LN which solidified my negative thoughts. I came to realization that the entire basis of the series was incredibly superficial and feels like reading the fantasy story of some angsty and bitter teenager who blames the world for his problems. It became entirely impossible for me to enjoy it after putting any thought into the reading. The manga somehow did a surprisingly good job covering up how contrived and shallow the series actually is, but either way the LN was absolutely unbearable for me. I could say more but the whole topic has already been discussed in past reviews.

When it comes down to it; this is just yet another overrated fantasy escapist series but with an emotional hook that can easily sway at a glance. I'd recommend keeping the brain off if you want to read this manga, since if you do, you might find this to be impressively emotionally compelling as many have.